Damion Frye

Experienced Urban Educator and School Leader

As the principal of the Seth Boyden Demonstration School in Maplewood, New Jersey, Damion Frye draws on more than two decades of experience in urban public schools. He studied as an undergraduate at Bates College, which gave him an opportunity to get involved in teaching through its Urban Education Semester Program. Inspired by his experience at the East River Elementary School in Harlem, New York, Damion Frye decided to pursue elementary education as a profession after graduation. He subsequently earned a master of arts in teaching from Brown University.

Damion Frye held his first full-time position at the Benjamin Banneker Charter School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Among other achievements, he designed the school's first language arts curriculum for eighth grade. Mr. Frye then relocated to New Jersey, where he held a number of classroom positions teaching math, science, and English, before taking on the position of middle school dean of students and language arts teacher at the Equity Project Charter School in New York City.

Damion Frye went on to serve as the director of mathematics for New York's District 79, where he created a district-wide curriculum for General Education Diploma (GED) candidates as well as a blended-learning model for both GED students and students who were incarcerated. After a subsequent tenure as special assistant to the assistant superintendent in Newark, New Jersey, Mr. Frye took on the principalship of Seth Boyden. Since that time, he has worked to implement innovations in teaching and strengthen community engagement.